


epiclesis on behalf of the outcast

by allmyloyaldead (van1lla_v1lla1n)



Series: succession sprinkles [9]
Category: Succession (TV 2018)
Genre: Blasphemy, Blood, Cannibalism, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Monsters, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, in a eucharistic context?, post-Boar on the Floor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:13:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28735533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/van1lla_v1lla1n/pseuds/allmyloyaldead
Summary: After Boar on the Floor, the executive cohort drags Tom to the mansion's pool for his retribution; he emerges notably changed.
Relationships: Greg Hirsch/Tom Wambsgans
Series: succession sprinkles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011780
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	epiclesis on behalf of the outcast

Tom was unmade on the hardwood of a too-warm dining room and remade on the midnight tile of a pool. Boozy breath fogged floor-to-ceiling windows; laughter ricocheted in dark corners. And Tom dragged himself up over the edge, chest scraped raw on broken-pebbled concrete, to emerge new and driven and whole.

Raucousness tilted to hush when the other men—they were all men now, here—saw his face, that putty clown flesh turned to the monstrous emptiness of stone. And when he swung the door closed behind him, felt soft hall carpet under his hardened feet, he locked away the silence, disturbed only by the whisper of blood sliding slick through breath on glass and dripping slow to the tiled floor.

He found Greg—his second, still malleable self—cradled lush in a royal bed, and he lay next to him awake until light fell bright through the window to cut their faces. When Greg’s eyes opened, Tom took his head into his lap, tucked a bite of warmth into his mouth.

“Take, eat; this is my body,” Tom said, a rough murmur.

He held a crystal tumbler to his second self's forgiving lips.

“Drink,” he said; “this is my blood, poured out for the absolution of our sins.”

Tom bent to kiss the stain from his mouth, and as he lingered Greg too let himself be undone, remade, his sleep-warm body melting into the chill.

“By this body and this blood we are gathered into one," Tom said. "We do this in memory of those who would sacrifice us for their own gain.”

Greg's gaze cleared, and he stood to back away, horrified. Tom grasped his shoulders, molding his face into one of reassurance. “Be still, Gregory, my self," he said, "for now we must take our rightful place.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to give Greg a line or two in this, but he would've said something like "Dude, what the fuck? What about, like, _my_ principles, man?" and that just wouldn't really fit the tone.
> 
> Matthew Macfadyen referred to the pool in an interview as ["a sort of demented orangery."](https://www.tobyontv.com/post/succession-jesse-armstrong-matthew-macfadyen-and-brian-cox-on-filming-boar-on-the-floor)


End file.
